Letter from the MC Principal
Hello Middle Campus families,
In the coming weeks we have various opportunities for you to learn more about how we operate as a school.
This week we have the first of our IB Parent/Caregiver Info sessions. The morning option was this morning and there is an evening option on Thursday, August 25th at 6:00 pm. We will cover: an introduction to learning in the IB, school/home communication, and navigating ManageBac. The link to RSVP was sent out last week, but if you are still interested in attending tomorrow night’s session you can email our MYP Coordinator Dale Scott at dscott@atlncs.org for details. Over the years we have noticed that regular attendees of these sessions have a much higher level of understanding of what is going on at the middle campus, so we strongly encourage participation.
For parents of student-athletes, next week there will be a parent information session to discuss student-athlete expectations, parent expectations, earning playing time, game and practice schedules, our new charter school athletic league, concussion and health protocols, and other details. The session will be virtual and it will be taking place on Thursday, September 1st from 6:00-7:00 pm. This will be a virtual meeting and Ms. Santina will send out the meeting details to parents of students who are registered for sports.
A few years ago we moved away from doing a standard curriculum night, because it was going to be difficult to pull off parents moving through a student’s schedule and spending time with all of their teachers since students have eight classes. We moved to a structure that we call Meet the School Family Night in which we all meet up in The Backyard, and parents have an opportunity to spend some time meeting their students’ various teachers. This year Meet the School Family Night will take place on Thursday, September 8th from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm.
Prior to the event I will send out a link with a collection of videos from each teacher (the videos will be no more than about 4 minutes in length) that parents can look at to learn more about their students’ teachers, what they are learning (and will learn) in class, and some video of what the classroom space looks like. All told you should be able to gain familiarity with your child’s classes within about 30 minutes of watching these videos. Then during Meet the School Family Night you can put faces to names, get to know the teachers a little more, and ask clarifying questions. That said, you will be one of many families wanting to spend time with each of the teachers that night. We ask that everyone recognize that this night is not for individual conferences, but rather to learn more about your child’s teachers and other school family members at the Middle Campus.
In last week’s Courier I mentioned a parent conversation on dress code will be forthcoming potentially next week. However, given that we’ve got some of these other items on the calendar we will now look at a time frame after Meet the School Family Night. Once the timing is finalized I will post that information in the Courier.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.
Kind regards,
Mark
Mark Sanders
Mark Sanders began teaching at ANCS in 2011. Before coming to the school, Mr. Sanders worked in New York City. He spent three years teaching 7th and 8th grade mathematics at Middle School 50 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and two years at Harlem Village Academies teaching Geometry and Algebra 2/Trigonometry. He taught 8th grade Math/Science/Technology at ANCS for five years.
